Brendon McCullum's Leeds plan laid bare as England 'just want to hit through the line' against India in 1st Test
The usual Bazball scheme of things is likely to dictate the proceedings in Leeds, where England will take on India for the first match of the five-game Test series, starting June 20. The expectation has been the same as it has been under head coach Brendon McCullum of a "good surface," but the unusually dry weather in Leeds forced the ground curator Richard Robinson to take a different approach to preparing the track.
Leeds is not the venue where England kick off things in the Test summer. It's more a mid-series trip to the city. But the staging of the opening game has attracted a lot more attention.
"They (England) just want to have a good surface so it's true, really, so we can hit through the line of the ball. That's really what they're looking for," Robinson was quoted by 'ESPNCricinfo'.
Robinson expects the track to aid the seamers, with a good bounce, but the hot weather will force the pitch to flatten out quite quickly. In fact, the weather forecast indicated that it will get closer to 30 degrees, but won't break the surface. This implies that bowling first will be the way to go at the Headingley, which has mostly been the trend in the Bazball era.
During the period, teams have opted to bowl first in 16 off the 22 instances, winning nine of them, while those opting to bat first lost on all six occasions. In Leeds, England won twice during McCullum's tenure, both while chasing - 296 against New Zealand and 251 against Australia. The last time India played at the venue was in 2021, when they suffered an innings defeat, 19 years after their famous win at the venue under Sourav Ganguly's leadership - a win that helped them end the series on a 1-1 draw.
With the pitch certain to aid the batters as it flattens out, it could also bring the inexperienced Indian batting line-up much more into the contest. Following the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, KL Rahul will be the senior-most in the Indian side led by Shubman Gill, who will have a point to prove considering his ordinary record in SENA countries. The line-up also includes Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is on his maiden tour to the country with the senior team, and Karun Nair, who last played a Test in 2017.
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